Julie Doiron
Désormais
(Jagjaguwar)
****

On the 1999 self-titled release by Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars, Doiron sang her thoughts loudly and longingly: "The best thing for me to do/is run faster than you," and "Anyone is pretty when she smiles/I mean that she's smiling like she's laughing." At the heart of that record was the simplicity of Doiron's lyrics--the way she sang them with a willful innocence--and the depth added by the lacy notework of the Wooden Stars. It was a record about communicating; it played with the grace of a long-distance phone conversation on a wintry Saturday.

But Julie Doiron's newest record, Désormais, is sung almost entirely in French--Doiron's lived in Montréal since the breakup of her last band, Eric's Trip--and unless you are well-versed in the ways of français, obviously you'll have no idea what she's singing about. That is why, for non-French speakers, Désormais ("from now on" in anglais) is a record entirely about sound--the timbre of Julie's voice, the stillness of her guitar. Rather than communicating in the reserved storminess of her record with Wooden Stars, she speaks to us in sentiment and feeling, with a delicate, sweet intimacy that transcends language barriers.

Appropriately, Doiron has turned inward for the music on Désormais, sounding introspective and silent, soft and humble. Her voice is breathy, but instead of sounding sensual, the nasal qualities of her French make every note sound like the sort of whispered lullaby one might sing to a baby. The addition of samples and electronic beats on a few songs add even more autumnal warmth, particularly on "Le Piano," in which the dynamics build from a still, ginger melody to demanding bursts of rhythm.

On "Penses-donc (Tu es Seule)," Doiron sings a capella, and its simplicity is as delicate as a secret, as if we've caught a glimpse of her singing under her breath as she's hanging her laundry. For the most part, Désormais is saturated with this feeling. Julie Doiron, through the woozy sweetness of her voice, has managed to illuminate the very essence of intimacy: finding the special qualities in the utterly normal.